Department for Transport

Aviation: Training

baroness garden of frognal: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the value of the UK flight training sector.

baroness sugg: In March 2015 the Government published research that the Department for Transport commissioned from York Aviation entitled “The Economic Value of General Aviation in the UK”. That research contained an estimate of the value of the UK flight training sector being £42m in 2013. We have commissioned research on what a strategic network of general aviation airfields might look like and this research may review that calculation.

Aviation

lord kirkhope of harrogate: To ask Her Majesty's Government how the needs of general aviation pilots will be addressed under any future airspace strategy.

baroness sugg: General aviation is a key stakeholder in the successful delivery of airspace modernisation and the creation of a future airspace which is efficient and meets the reasonable requirements of all airspace users. The specific needs of general aviation pilots will be considered by the independent airspace regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, when determining proposals to amend the UK airspace design or with any other measure that may affect them. Last year, the Secretary of State commissioned NATS to produce a feasibility assessment of the potential future demands for airspace of airports in the South of the UK. This work was the first step in the co-ordination of airspace modernisation, examining its feasibility and potential implementation. It was a design requirement of the NATS modelling that the total volume of controlled airspace does not increase and that where possible, controlled airspace would be released to other airspace users, including general aviation. The Government expects to publish the high level findings of this later in 2018.

Air Space

lord kirkhope of harrogate: To ask Her Majesty's Government what powers the Civil Aviation Authority has to manage lower airspace in the UK.

baroness sugg: Sections 66, 68 and 104 of the Transport Act 2000 provide the Secretary of State with powers to issue directions to the Civil Aviation Authority on how it should manage the UK’s airspace. These powers are set out in The Civil Aviation Authority (Air Navigation) Directions, the latest version of which came into force on 1 January 2018. A copy of these directions can be found in the Air Navigation Guidance 2017 which the department published on 24 October 2017.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Portuguese Timor: Armed Conflict

lord foster of bath: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 15 May (HL7391), what assessment they have made of the conclusion of the New South Wales’ Coroner that the Balibo five were shot or deliberately stabbed; and what action, if any, they intend to take in response to this verdict.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: Following the findings of the Coroner’s verdict in 2007 we were in contact with both the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the families involved throughout the AFP’s investigation. We respect the AFP’s 2014 decision not to pursue the case following their conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to prove an offence. We are monitoring the ongoing Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Australia.

Bahrain: Protest

lord scriven: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 31 July 2017 (HL930), what representations they have made to the government of Bahrain regarding the investigation into the killing of five protesters in Duraz on 23 May 2017.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: ​We understand the investigation into the deaths of protesters during the security operation to clear an illegal gathering in Diraz is ongoing. We will continue to monitor events in Bahrain closely. Should we have concerns we will raise them at an appropriately senior level with the Government of Bahrain.

Yemen: Politics and Government

the marquess of lothian: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatassessment they have madeof the political situation in Yemen; and whether they support autonomy or separation for south Yemen.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: A political settlement is the only way to bring long-term stability to Yemen and to address the worsening humanitarian crisis. The Yemeni parties must engage constructively and in good faith to overcome obstacles and find a political solution to end the conflict.The issue of governance arrangements for southern Yemen is ultimately a question for the Yemeni people. The UK position - and that of the UN Security Council – is to support the unity, sovereignty and independence of Yemen. It is likely however that a greater degree of autonomy for all Yemen's regions, including the south, will be required to promote stability, as agreed in the National Dialogue outcomes. We urge all Yemeni groups to pursue political aspirations through peaceful dialogue and to refrain from violence.

Bahrain: Political Prisoners

lord scriven: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the Bahraini Ombudsman is conducting swift and thorough investigations into allegations that female political prisoners Hajer Mansoor Hassan and Medina Ali are being denied access to medical treatment in Isa Town Prison.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the British Embassy in Bahrain are aware of these cases and continue to monitor events. We encourage those with concerns about treatment in detention to report these to the appropriate oversight body. We urge these oversight bodies to carry out swift and thorough investigations into any such claims. We understand that the National Institution for Human Rights is aware of these cases and is monitoring the situation, and that the Ombudsman of the Ministry of Interior is also investigating the claims.

Department of Health and Social Care

Carbon Monoxide: Poisoning

lord hunt of kings heath: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will commission research into the impact of exposure to chronic levels of carbon monoxide through exposure to flueless gaseous appliances such as cookers, grills, hobs and gas fires on levels of dementia in the population.

lord o'shaughnessy: The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The usual practice of NIHR is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics such as dementia or the effects of exposure to indoor air pollutants such as carbon monoxide. Research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.The Department has asked the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to develop guidance on indoor air pollution in homes. NICE has worked with Public Health England to develop this scope. The focus will be on interventions related to the structure of, ventilation of, and materials used in, new/existing or retrofitted homes as well as on people’s knowledge, attitude and behaviour in relation to indoor air pollution. The guideline is to be published in September 2019.

Ministry of Justice

Female Genital Mutilation: Prosecutions

baroness smith of basildon: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prosecutions there have been under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003 in each year since 2015; and how many have been successful.

lord keen of elie: In the period 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2017, there was one prosecution (in 2016) under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, and that did not result in a conviction. This data relates only to those proceedings where the principal offence prosecuted was under the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003. Where a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, data would only record the offence for which the heaviest penalty was imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected would be the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty was the most severe. Data for 2018 will be published in May 2019.

Prison Officers: Recruitment

the marquess of lothian: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many more prison officers are currently needed in the UK; how they plan to recruit the necessary prison officers; and what success the Unlocked programme has had incontributing to increasing recruitment.

lord keen of elie: Following their introduction in July 2015, there have been 222 applications and 205 orders made for Female Genital Mutilation Protection Orders, up to 31 December 2017. In this period no breaches of an FGM Protection order have been dealt with in the criminal courts. In the Family Courts, proceedings for breach would be dealt with as a contempt of court matter and are not recorded separately. The information could therefore only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Statistics on FGM Protection Orders are publicly available as part of the Family Courts Statistics Quarterly series at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/family-court-statistics-quarterly. The next publication of Family Court Statistics Quarterly is due on 28 June 2018. This will provide data up to the end of March 2018.

Treasury

Customs

lord macpherson of earl's court: To ask Her Majesty's Government what analysis supports the view of the Chief Executive of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs that the proposed maximum facilitation customs arrangement after the UK leaves the EU could cost businesses between £17 billion and £20 billion per year.

lord bates: Analysis to support the numbers used by the Chief Executive of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs was outlined in a letter to the Chair of the Treasury Select Committee sent on 4 June 2018[1]. The letter is also attached. [1] https://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/treasury/Correspondence/2017-19/hmrc-customs-costs-040618.pdf



HMRC letter
(PDF Document, 315.73 KB)

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Local Government: South West

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what cost-benefit analyses were done before the Somerset and Dorset local government re-organisations were agreed; and whether safeguards exist to prevent savings and value-for-money being absorbed by increase in salaries and other administrative costs.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: In both cases the councils’ proposals included well developed business cases, providing clear evidence of estimated costs and savings. The former Secretary of State considered these when concluding that these proposals fully met the criteria for implementing mergers and unitarisations as set out in my statements to the House on 26 February and 22 March. How savings are used and value for money achieved most effectively will be matters for the new councils, which are accountable to their local electorates.

Home Office

Immigration: Married People

baroness afshar: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure the safe and timely return of passports submitted to the Home Office by spouses of British citizens wishing to come to the UK.

baroness williams of trafford: Passports submitted by the spouses of British Citizens who are applying to come to the UK are usually held at an UKVI Decision Making Centre pending a decision being made.The passports are stored securely and returned to customers directly by courier or via a Visa Application Centre at various locations overseas once the consideration process is completed. The transfer and transit of passports between Decision Making Centres and the Visa Applications Centres is closely monitored and records of each shipment move are kept.There is also the opportunity where UKVI can assess applications from digital images of passports. However, the physical passport is required for UKVI to affix a vignette when a decision is made.In most locations there is an option for customers to keep their passport until a decision has been made on their application with payment of an additional fee.

Mass Media: Violence

lord hunt of chesterton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what research they have conducted on the influence of violent mediamaterial on the behaviours of young men in large UK cities; and what steps they are taking to monitor and address it.

baroness williams of trafford: In the Serious Violence Strategy, published on 9 April 2018, the Government sets out our analysis of the trends and drivers in serious violence and this includes the role that social media plays. That analysis shows that social media has created an opportunity for rivals to antagonise each other, and for those taunts to be viewed by a much larger audience for a much longer time period. This may lead to cycles of tit-for-tat violence.We are working with social media companies and law enforcement agencies to take preventative action to address the availability of such violent gang related material available via social media.

Crimes of Violence: Urban Areas

lord hunt of chesterton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what control measures they are considering to monitor and curtail the movements and violent behaviour of some young men in large UK cities; and whether these measures include the introduction of identity cards.

baroness williams of trafford: On 9 April 2018, the Government published a new Serious Violence Strategy to take action to address serious violence and in particular the recent increases in knife crime, gun crime and homicide. The strategy outlines an ambitious programme of over 60 commitments and actions to tackle this issue. It establishes a new balance between prevention and the rigorous law enforcement activity. The strategy will shift our approach towards steering young people away from crime in the first place and put in place measures to tackle the root causes.In 2010 the then Government decided to scrap the identity card scheme and the associated National Identity Register because it was expensive and represented a substantial erosion of civil liberties. This Government has no plans to revisit that decision.

Licensing Laws: Airports

baroness mcintosh of pickering: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they intend to revoke the orders which prevent the Licensing Act 2003 from applying to airport bars airside.

baroness williams of trafford: The Government’s Response to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Licensing Act 2003 made a commitment to issue a call for evidence on the Committee’s recommendation to revoke these orders.The call for evidence will be issued shortly.

Department for International Trade

Arms Trade: Israel

baroness uddin: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will review their policy on arms sales to Israel, given the recent violence in Gaza.

baroness fairhead: Sales of military items to other countries by UK companies require export licences. Export licence applications are rigorously assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking account of all prevailing circumstances at the time of the application. The Government will not issue a licence if to do so would be inconsistent with these Criteria.The Government is monitoring the situation in Israel and Gaza very closely and will revoke extant export licences if they are assessed to be no longer consistent with licensing criteria.The policy framework for assessing exports of military items was announced to Parliament by the former Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Rt. Hon Member for Twickenham, Sir Vince Cable, as a Written Ministerial Statement on 25 March 2014.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Aircraft: Cultural Heritage

baroness garden of frognal: To ask Her Majesty's Government what support is availablefor the preservation of historic aircraft in the UK.

lord ashton of hyde: The Heritage Lottery Fund has given nearly £60million in support of heritage aviation projects, including £3.5million to the preservation of individual historic aircraft. Following a grant of over £5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Brooklands Museum in Weybridge recently won the Permanent Exhibition Award at the 2018 Museums and Heritage Awards for its new Aircraft Factory and Flight Shed. The Government also directly sponsors the IWM Duxford, the RAF Museum and the Science Museum Group, all of which feature historic aircraft as part of their collections. The Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight maintains aircraft of our national heritage in airworthy condition, operated by RAF personnel.

Gaming Machines

lord porter of spalding: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to theStatement byLord Ashton of Hydeon 17 May(HL Deb, cols 772–84) on gaming machines, when the reduction in the maximum stake on Fixed Odds Betting Terminalswill come into force.

lord ashton of hyde: The Government published its response to the consultation on changes to gaming machines and social responsibility measures on 17 May. The Government will engage with the gambling industry to ensure they are given sufficient time to implement and complete the technological changes for the reduction in maximum stake for Fixed-Odds Betting Terminals. The Government will deliver the reduction in stake through secondary legislation in due course.